COVA Reflection

When I switched to the ADL program from Ed Tech Leadership, I was unsure of what to expect, but I knew I wanted to enter a more technological realm of education. In my first program, guidelines and expectations were strict and there was little room for variation. However, when I entered my first two ADL courses with Dr. Harapnuik, I realized that this program would be vastly different. As I began trying to complete assignments, I was lost and confused because I felt I needed set parameters for completing these assignments. It was not until the end of our first two courses that I understood the capacity of COVA we would be working in throughout this program. Once I made this realization I was mortified and immediately felt overwhelmed. Although, with the community I built with my peers and the guidance and information provided by Dr. Harapnuik, I initiated a growth mindset and pushed myself to take responsibility for my learning and engage in the COVA approach.

What did you do to adjust to this approach to learning? Knowing what you know now, what would you do differently?

To adjust to the COVA approach, it was imperative for me to take a step back and reevaluate how I presented content to my students and how I ran my classroom. Initially, I created a plan to submerse my students into blended learning and utilizing the COVA approach. I cultivated a number of online learning opportunities, including group projects, independent research time, lectures, etc. Although, since I have taught both second and third grade, I know there is an incredible jump from one grade to the next, especially when considering their independence. Once the school year was underway, I quickly realized it was too much too soon and had to adjust the delivery of my content. As of now, my students and I have been taking small steps to incorporate the COVA approach in addition to our blended learning environment. Our focus in this phase is providing consistent choice of projects (digitally and tangible), how they receive their lectures, and how they receive remediation.

Possible Challenges of Blended Learning.png

How will you prepare your learners and colleagues for the COVA approach and CSLE?

In order to prepare my colleagues for my COVA approach and CSLE, I will be sharing my learning manifesto. My learning manifesto gives them the opportunity to explore my views of how learning can be achieved through COVA and my innovation plan. Once we have reviewed the manifesto, we can meet to identify how our views align, how our views can be implemented intentionally, and what we can adjust in our current curriculum to ensure we are providing a COVA and CSLE opportunity for each student.

Providing learners choice ownership and voice through authentic assignments
As I work to provide a COVA experience for my students, I have identified a new culture of learning that will ensure my students are engaging in responsibility, imagination, and personal satisfaction. Changing the culture of the classroom will be crucial to giving my students room to grow and find their voice within their work. Apart of this change will include having an array of folders in their Google Classroom that may be accessed outside the brick and mortar environment with tools and resources to enhance their learning experience, and rotating stations during class times with different projects, opportunities to regulate mistakes and misconceptions, and materials that support students that are ready to reach a higher level.